Sitting vs attaching

The differences

Usually, pose and animation systems require avatars to "sit" on an object. By doing so, a link FROM the object TO the avatar is created, and the avatar can be positioned with respect to the object. If you can do this then this is an ideal solution, as:

  1. it allows multiple avatars to sit on the same object, couple poses and animations and such;

  2. you are not required to own the object to sit on it;

  3. it is quite easy to position the avatar very precisely with respect to the object, thanks to a so-called "sit target";

  4. normally, a sitting avatar cannot move (unless the object contains a vehicle-type script of course);

  5. using an object to sit on requires you to rez this object on the land you are currently standing on and, therefore, have rez permission there! And of course, the object counts against the land impact limit (number of prims) of the parcel.



Links when an avatar is sitting on an object

On the other hand, with attachments:

  1. you do not need rez permissions and attached objects are not normally subject to land impact limits;

  2. it is impossible for an avatar to "sit" on an attachment worn by another avatar. This means: no couple animation;

  3. ownership is required to use an object as an attachment;

  4. by attaching an object, a link is created FROM the avatar TO the attachment. This means that the attachment is positioned with respect to the avatar, and more precisely with respect to the attachment point on the avatar;

  5. the very concept of a "sit target" just makes no sense in the case of an attachment since there is no sitting at all. The avatar is always positioned with respect to the floor or the prim they are standing on ;

  6. unless more functionality is added through another script, an attachment will not prevent the avatar from moving.

The WearPose System only deals with attachments. High quality products like the famous avSitter exist to handle the case of sitting on rezzed objects.

Links when an object is attached to the avatar

A limitation

Because of the remark #5 about attachments, the positioning on the avatar cannot be as easily controlled as with a rezzed object. You cannot just buy a very elaborate sitting animation and expect it to be sitting right on the armchair you just designed because it may just be that the avatar will be too high, or too low, or oriented in a manner that will not be appropriate to your armchair.

Remember, the avatar is positioned with respect to the floor, not the armchair !

Of course, you may position the armchair itself so that it fits right under the avatar. However, this may end looking perfectly for one shape of avatar, and look wrong for a smaller, or bigger avatar.

A solution

Starting with version 2 of the WearPose System, this limitation has been worked around thanks to the playing of a second animation called an adjustment pose.

Actually, adjustment poses are very simple 2-frame animations whose sole job is to move and rotate the avatar to a given setting. Technically speaking, this works by moving the "hip" element of the avatar skeleton. By playing the adjustment pose (with priority 4) after the primary pose, the avatar position and orientation of the primary pose is overridden and you can therefore actually move the avatar.

This solution may sound simple but there are many hidden details the WearPose System takes into account. Luckily, creating adjustment poses will be very simple thanks to this web site and the appropriate form. More information about this in the adjustment section.

At this point I must mention a limitation in this solution: this will work well with static poses but not with complex animations (like dances) where the avatar will be moving as part of the animation. Or rather it will work but not as expected since your dance will be transformed into a static pose.

I'm afraid there is not much more about this particular problem except contacting the maker of your favourite dance move so that they make a variation of it.